Novato was ground zero in Tuesday’s local election as a proposed tax for flood mitigation projects failed badly and longtime Councilwoman Pat Eklund won re-election easily despite a parade of past city managers dissing her late in the campaign.

About 38 percent of the 74,175 Marin voters eligible to vote in Tuesday elections turned out, said Lynda Roberts, county registrar of voters. Roberts said that is typical for a November, odd-year election. Some 5,000 vote-by-mail and 828 provisional ballots remain to be counted. More vote-by-mail ballots may still arrive; any ballot postmarked on or before the election will be counted.

It is unlikely the additional ballots will change the outcome in any of the key races. But Donald Parker had just a 13-vote lead over Damian Morgan, the fourth-place finisher in the race for three seats on the Marin City Community Services District board. And Peter Lambert had just an 11-vote lead over Lynda Grose, the fourth-place finisher in the race for three seats on the Muir Beach Community Services District board.

Big rejection

Perhaps the biggest story of the election was the failure of Measure E, an 18-year tax that would have raised $20 million for flood mitigation projects in Novato and surrounding communities. The tax would have cost owners of single-family homes $46 per year; commercial parcels would have paid a higher rate.

Measure E needed two-thirds support to pass; instead, more than 67 percent of the voters rejected it.

“The voters were ready for it. They just needed an argument to coalesce around,” said Julia Lavaroni, one of the leaders of the opposition to Measure E. “We had a passionate group of people who were really committed to getting the message out.”

In addition to Lavaroni, the gang of five who mounted the campaign included Toni Shroyer, who ran against Supervisor Judy Arnold in 2014, losing by 215 votes. Shroyer hasn’t ruled out running again in 2018.

In an opinion piece that appeared in the Independent Journal in October, Lavaroni wrote that Measure E was “the latest in a well-worn series of tax measures designed to dupe voters.”

She went on to suggest that county supervisors would spend the money for projects other than what was promised “once the tax dollars roll in.”

Voting trend

Brian Sobel, a Petaluma-based political analyst, said voters’ rejection of Measure E is a continuation of a trend that extends beyond Marin.

He said with the exception of school bonds, “Taxes that end up on the backs of regular citizens are being routinely voted down in fairly large numbers.”

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Arnold said more needs to be done to educate voters about the reality of the flood district’s funding situation. She said when Novato Flood Control District Zone 1 was formed in the 1970s, the founders realized they couldn’t garner enough funding to prepare for a 100-year flood, so they settled for making the district safe for a 50-year flood.

“Now fast forward to the 21st century and with climate change we’ve had several 100-year floods in Novato,” Arnold said.

There was no 100-year storm event in Novato last winter; even so, flooding closed Highway 37 for days and inflicted $1.7 million worth of damage on District Zone 1’s pump stations and levees. The district is hoping to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to make those repairs.

Campaign questions

Arnold said the Measure E campaign was hurt by the death of Dietrich Stroeh on May 31.

“I think Diet’s death just kind of threw everyone,” Arnold said. “They had counted on him really running the campaign. I think had he been there it probably would have made a big difference.

“Bill Long did a great job, but I just don’t think he had the people he needed to do it,” Arnold said.

Long, who heads the Novato Zone 1 flood control advisory board, said, “We ran into strong anti-tax sentiment. No more new taxes; that was the basic message of the opponents and that resonated with the voters.”

Long said the district’s $2 million in annual revenue is just enough to cover its regular expenses: normal maintenance of pump stations and levees, removing debris from creeks, dredging and management.

“That’s why we had to go to the voters at this point to fund these needed projects,” Long said, “which are essential because the levees are aging and the pump stations are likewise.”

Long said if the district can’t figure out some way to finance the flood mitigation projects, “sooner or later when the big storms roll through and sea level starts to bite there is going to be some very widespread damage in this community.”

Eklund survives

Measure E was endorsed by every member of the Novato City Council save one: Pat Eklund, who declined to take a position on the measure.

Eklund, who joined the council in 1995, was re-elected to a sixth term Tuesday. Even though some ballots remain to be counted, at this point she is the lead vote-getter, edging out fellow incumbent Denise Athas, who was also re-elected, by 57 votes.

The third challenger in the race for two seats on the Novato City Council, Kevin Morrison, trailed Athas by 1,903 votes.

Eklund’s supporters stood by her despite statements issued late in the campaign by former city manager Michael Frank and former police chief Jim Berg criticizing her performance on the council. Two other former city managers — Rod Wood and Dan Keen — also confirmed that they resigned their positions because of Eklund.

Both Frank and Berg accused Eklund of villainizing government in an effort to garner support.

On election night, Eklund said, “I’m really delighted that the voters have seen through the negative campaigning and made a statement.”

Political analyst Sobel said one reason the criticism of Eklund seemed to have little effect is that it was harsh.

“People react poorly to negative commentary when it is really in your face,” Sobel said. “If it is subtle, negative can work, but when it is over-the-top, which I thought that stuff was, people react differently to that.”

Frank said Wednesday, “I have no regrets whatsoever. My civic responsibility was to shed a light on her behavior. My predecessors and I have done that. I have said my piece.”